HONG KONG – Global financial markets kicked off Thursday with uneven momentum across Asian equities, one day after major U.S. indexes notched fresh all-time records. Traders across the region were laser-focused on outcomes from the highly anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, looking for any shifts that could reshape trade, geopolitics and global energy flows.
The two leaders held talks at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, covering the full scope of U.S.-China ties including the sensitive issue of Taiwan. Most market analysts entered the meeting with tempered expectations, projecting no major breakthroughs on longstanding bilateral disputes would emerge from the one-day summit.
Early futures trading for U.S. stocks pointed to a mild upward opening when markets resume trading stateside. Across East Asia, benchmark indexes painted a mixed picture: Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.3% to close at 63,448.87, after climbing to an intraday all-time high above 63,700 earlier in the session, lifted by stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings from major Japanese corporations. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.5% to 7,884.71, with the biggest gains coming from the country’s technology sector. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.7% to reach 26,584.88, while mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index pulled back 0.9% to 4,204.41. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 posted a marginal dip of less than 0.1% to settle at 8,627.80, while Taiwan’s Taiex rose 0.6% and India’s Sensex climbed 0.5% by closing time.
Beyond equities, oil prices continued their upward climb, driven by persistent uncertainty over the ongoing two-month-old war in Iran. Market participants have pinned hopes on the Trump-Xi summit to deliver diplomatic progress, after senior U.S. officials noted that Beijing maintains close economic ties with Tehran that could be leveraged to pressure Iran into reopening the critical Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for nearly a fifth of global oil supplies.
As of Thursday trading, Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, rose 0.4% to $106.04 per barrel. That figure is far higher than the roughly $70 per barrel price seen just before the Iran conflict broke out in late February. The uptick came one day after the International Energy Agency warned that supply disruptions stemming from the Strait of Hormuz standoff are draining global crude stockpiles at a faster pace than ever recorded. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude also gained 0.4% to trade at $101.43 per barrel.
Investors are also monitoring developments around China’s import policies for Nvidia’s cutting-edge H200 artificial intelligence chips. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is among a cohort of top U.S. business leaders including Tesla’s Elon Musk and Apple’s Tim Cook joining Trump on his Beijing trip, sparking speculation about potential shifts in tech trade rules.
On Wednesday, U.S. markets closed out the session with tech stocks leading broad gains that pushed major benchmarks to new record highs. The broad S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 7,444.25, notching another all-time closing high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 1.2% to 26,402.34, also hitting a new record, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a modest 0.1% dip to 49,693.20.
In bond markets, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note edged down marginally to 4.46% from Wednesday’s 4.47%, but remains far above the 3.97% level recorded before the Iran war began. A government report released Wednesday showed U.S. wholesale prices spiked in April, driven largely by energy market volatility triggered by the Iran conflict. Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh, Donald Trump’s nominee, to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, succeeding Jerome Powell, whom Trump repeatedly criticized for refusing to cut interest rates as quickly and deeply as the president demanded.
In currency markets, the U.S. dollar dipped slightly to 157.85 Japanese yen, down from 157.86 yen in the previous session. The euro also saw a marginal uptick, rising to $1.1715 from $1.1711.
Associated Press Business Writer Stan Choe contributed reporting to this article.